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People Are Explaining That What Happened To Texans Is Due To The Rich Being Greedy In 30 Posts
The massive winter storm that hit Texas and left millions without any power or heating is bringing the topic of how electricity is being regulated in the state to the forefront of the discussion. In short, the energy infrastructure in Texas isn’t made for cold snaps like the one that shook the southern US. And some people believe that capitalism exacerbated the problem, making the situation far, far worse because companies are competing for customers instead of investing in maintaining the infrastructure.
Among the other controversies, the (now former) mayor of Colorado City, Tim Boyd, has announced that he’s resigning because of a scathingly received post online. Boyd essentially left everyone to fend for themselves and stated that they can expect no help from the authorities.
Have a read through what people said about the situation in Texas online and what their opinions about the link between capitalism and the deadly outages are. Upvote the images that you agree with and be sure to share your own opinions with everyone in the comment section below, dear Readers.
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Fascinating that infrastructure affecting millions must be left alone for profit, but a private citizen's reproduction isn't left alone for any reason whatsoever, isn't it...
Texas relies on its own power grid. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, aka Ercot, manages it. A nonprofit corporation, it's still overseen by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, a state agency. Ercot decided to turn off power for millions of customers after the freezing temperatures shut down several of their power plants. It was either that or risk the collapse of the entire power grid.
Some people, from professors and experts to ordinary Americans and those directly affected by the cold, suggested that electricity deregulation is to blame for Texas’ inability to cope with the winter crisis. Meanwhile, others implied that what some Republicans warned would happen under socialism, in fact, happened under capitalism. In short, people are angry that the federal government isn’t overseeing the entire situation in Texas.
What does GOP mean? All I can come up with is Game Of Phones, so it’s probably not that.
CNN reports that dozens of people across the southern US states have died because of the weather. The number of victims is at least 21. Meanwhile, the BBC writes that over 100 million Americans are under a winter weather warning; over 71 percent of the entire US was covered by snow by Wednesday afternoon.
As of Wednesday, there have been around 2.3 million power outages all over Texas, leaving around a quarter of the state with no access to electricity or heating. The situation is so dire, Texans are bringing in farm and wild animals into their homes to keep them warm while volunteers are rescuing sea turtles by the thousands so they don’t freeze to death.
Fact: Per capita, tax dollars paid in the US federal system (federal only) are not distributed based upon contribution. At one point, a Rocky Mtn state was receiving almost two dollars in federal funding for every dollar paid in taxes. Where'd the extra dollar come from? States like Cali, Mass.,NY, etc. IF they really believed in "get out what you put in", these folks would be in a world more of hurt.
So, aside from the armed forces, what does he think our tax dollars and utility payments are for?
The argument, as some experts put it, is simple: even though winter snaps like this one are rare, the power infrastructure in Texas needs to be overhauled, improved, and upgraded to ensure that it functions in times of crisis. What’s more, there are calls for more regulation of the electricity market so that the infrastructure is properly maintained.
As Rebecca Goetz, an associate professor of history at NYU puts it, deregulation might lead to lower prices for the consumers (i.e. us because we’re choosing the suppliers ourselves, thus making everyone compete for our attention by lowering their prices), but it also leads to confusion. Your electricity supplier might not be the company that fixes your grid when something happens to it. Furthermore, maintenance fees aren’t enough to maintain the infrastructure. Or, in other words, you get what you pay for.
It's so cold out that the food wasn't going to spoil *outside*, that's for sure. I wish the market had done what ours did when we had a huge power outage a few years ago: Just gave it away as people asked for it. Corporate insurance covered the loss. Why not let the food go as needed, not to waste/ *sigh*
As a resident of the North Atlantic Canada, where there is a large windfarm....i CAN CONFIRM THAT WINDMILLS CAN WORK IN THE FREEZING RAIN.
Remembering all the US jokes about people in socialist countries waiting in line for their daily bread....
According to history expert Goetz, Texans prefer cheap electricity to a reliable infrastructure that’s able to efficiently tough out heat spikes, as well as cold snaps. And before you ask, the technology for making tech (including renewable tech like wind turbines, as well as traditional energy sources like natural gas) resistant to the cold does exist. It’s all a question of how much companies want to invest into upgrading the current infrastructure and what the cost of that would be.
Stop calling them windmills. They are wind turbines. Windmills are the things that Don Quixote fought.
I genuinely cannot understand how people think it is OK for corporations to have that kind of power. What’s the difference from authoritarians governments? The corporation’s have often more power than a country leader. Why do people don’t think about making the power of corporations democratic? Allowing them to do as they please with people lives is not democracy.
The situation in Texas isn’t black-and-white. Everyone’s looking for someone to blame, but the situation is raising a lot of vital questions that might affect Texas and the rest of the US in the future, not just in the context of winter storms.
Let me play devil’s advocate for a moment here. Spending more money on upgrading the state’s power infrastructure is a good idea because it ensures that people have heating and electricity in times of crisis like during this rare cold snap. However, there are practical considerations to take into account. You might cold-proof your infrastructure, but where do we draw the line? Do we need to ensure it’s protected from every possible and rare eventuality?
What do you mean "every ten years?" It's literally a daily occurrence, ffs.
It's the exact same shortsightedness that makes fossil fuel companies want to drill and destroy in National Parks - land that should be free for all to enjoy. The fossil fuels will run out in a matter of decades at best, but the ecosystems and landscapes will have been wrecked for centuries and some species driven to extinction, so the land can never be returned to its natural state. All destroyed so the rich people who own the fossil fuel companies and the politicains who take their money and sign the leases, can make more money.
I’m all for spending more to stay safe and have a reliable system. It’s vital to do. But at some point, ordinary Texans will be asking whether money’s being flushed down the drain by investing in upgrades that might be ‘useless.’ People tend to invest in what they think is likely to happen and that’s a very human thing to do. How much is too much? Where do we draw the line?
Don’t forget that the companies will have to heavily invest in maintaining the new infrastructure. And though that will ensure that some people will have steady work, it would mean that electricity costs would increase for the average citizen. Is everyone prepared to pay more? Some, of course. Especially in the interests of a reliable system. But not everyone. How do you get a consensus when people feel very passionately about their opinions that don't mesh well together?
Vulnerable people will have died because they can’t keep warm. It’s corporate man slaughter at best.
There’s another issue here as well. Greater influence of the federal government could help maintain the infrastructure and ensure that what we’re seeing in Texas right now doesn’t happen again. But here’s the rub: Americans venerate self-reliance and independence. Being overly reliant on the federal government (as opposed to the state government) isn’t something that comes naturally to a lot of Americans, especially Texans who have a long and proud history.
Texas ignored the '89 report that they need to winterize... they ignored it and 2010 hit... another report saying they need to do something... they ignored it and 2021 happened. There are times I really hate our government. Republicans have been in charge for 26 years and it's way past time to vote them out.
In the short term? Absolutely, Texas needs help from the government: people need quick and decisive action. However, the government isn’t always quick to respond in times of crisis (remember the response to Hurricane Katrina?). What’s more, if you move power away from local governments and communities, you might find (emphasis on might) that the people closest to you and most capable of lending a hand are no longer in the position to do so. Just some food for thought.
This can be said of the whole US power grid, really. Even tho' it's not privatized, it's being ignored so we can... uh... yeah, I got nothing.
Do you think that capitalism is to blame for the situation in Texas, dear Readers? If not, do you think that the deregulation of the electricity market made the situation worse? How do you think the system should be reformed? Do you think that relying on the government more is a good idea in the long-term? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. And those of you currently affected by the cold—stay warm, you have our support.
uh yeah. Capitalism is about screwing the working class to increase profits for the wealthy, so of course it worked as designed
And to think, he could've been a hero if he just said nothing, rolled up his sleeves, and simply helped some of his constituents. You know, think outside the box.
Well he wasn't a scholar or particularly good at much but sound bites.. It isn't a philosophy my dear, it is a failure of education - and ignorance is desirable because it is exploitable.
Note: this post originally had 34 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Has anyone noticed that Biden did NOT tell Texans they can't have federal aid because they didn't vote for him? Unlike Trump when California was on fire...
Yes. We have all noticed that. But he won't get credit or respect for behaving like a decent human being from these people. They will still hate him.
Load More Replies...I'm sorry that this is happening in the US. I live in East Europe and when covid started, all utilities companies didn't shut anyone off for not paying bills, bills were delayed for months, they worked non stop so that we could have everything and not pay... and we weren't freezing or anything like that. Banks delayed all payments for mortgages and stuff for the year, so people would have money to eat and not lose their homes/cars. I cannot understand why the US thinks it's such a great country, when so many people are suffering and are being denied basic needs.
I'm in the UK and the energy company I was on at the time let people reduce their direct debits to a much lower amount than they would normally allow. One time I couldn't pay my water bill on time. The water company was very understanding and said not to worry, pay it when I could (within reason) and they would not cut me off.
Load More Replies...Chance of this being a wake up call : 0. As soon as the cold is gone everything will be back to normal. Nothing will change because the capitalists running this shyteshow are sitting warm and dry in some other part of the country. They are enjoying the rising prices of electricity. They are making huge profits now, underlining once more that winterizing their power plants is costly and contra-productive.
Texas is a head up the ass kind of state, I lived there for 4 years.
Load More Replies...Has anyone noticed that Biden did NOT tell Texans they can't have federal aid because they didn't vote for him? Unlike Trump when California was on fire...
Yes. We have all noticed that. But he won't get credit or respect for behaving like a decent human being from these people. They will still hate him.
Load More Replies...I'm sorry that this is happening in the US. I live in East Europe and when covid started, all utilities companies didn't shut anyone off for not paying bills, bills were delayed for months, they worked non stop so that we could have everything and not pay... and we weren't freezing or anything like that. Banks delayed all payments for mortgages and stuff for the year, so people would have money to eat and not lose their homes/cars. I cannot understand why the US thinks it's such a great country, when so many people are suffering and are being denied basic needs.
I'm in the UK and the energy company I was on at the time let people reduce their direct debits to a much lower amount than they would normally allow. One time I couldn't pay my water bill on time. The water company was very understanding and said not to worry, pay it when I could (within reason) and they would not cut me off.
Load More Replies...Chance of this being a wake up call : 0. As soon as the cold is gone everything will be back to normal. Nothing will change because the capitalists running this shyteshow are sitting warm and dry in some other part of the country. They are enjoying the rising prices of electricity. They are making huge profits now, underlining once more that winterizing their power plants is costly and contra-productive.
Texas is a head up the ass kind of state, I lived there for 4 years.
Load More Replies...